Weeks away from the resumption of federal student loan payments, 4 million people have enrolled in President Biden’s new income-driven repayment plan that promises a lower monthly bill and a shorter path to loan forgiveness, the Education Department said Tuesday.

A majority of those borrowers have been automatically switched to the Saving on a Valuable Education plan – commonly known as Save – because they were enrolled in an older plan it is replacing, according to the department. Still, the federal agency said it has received nearly 1 million applications for the program since the soft launch of the online form July 30. The department has touted the plan on social media, through a network of advocacy groups, and by direct outreach to nearly 30 million borrowers.

“We know that student loan bills are challenging … and we want to do everything to make sure borrowers take advantage of the benefits that come with a federal student loan,” Undersecretary James Kvaal said on a call with reporters Tuesday. “The Save plan is the most affordable repayment plan ever created, and it’s particularly useful to borrowers who are struggling because they have high debts or low incomes.”

Republican lawmakers are trying to stop the plan, saying it burdens taxpayers by reducing the debt of people who should repay their loan obligations.

The Save plan ties monthly student loan bills to earnings and family size, much like the four older income-driven plans. However, the new plan raises the amount of income shielded from the calculation of payments from 150 percent to 225 percent of the federal poverty line. It also caps payments for undergraduate loans to 5 percent of income above that 225 percent threshold, a reduction from 10 percent. People with debt from undergraduate and graduate studies will pay a weighted average between 5 and 10 percent.

The Education Department said that by lifting the income threshold, the Save plan will ensure a single borrower who makes less than $15 an hour will not have to make any payments, and those earning more will save an estimated $1,000 a year. The government will also waive any interest accrual that exceeds a borrower’s monthly payment and automatically recertify their income annually through the Internal Revenue Services.

Under the plan, anyone who borrowed $12,000 or less for undergrad or graduate school would receive loan forgiveness after making 10 years’ worth of payments, instead of the traditional 20 or 25 years’ worth under other income-based repayment plans. Every additional $1,000 borrowed above $12,000 would add one year of monthly payments to the time a borrower must pay before their debt is forgiven.

The department said most borrowers who apply can expect to see the newly calculated amount reflected in their October bill. Student loan servicers will place borrowers in forbearance if they need more time to process their applications. Applicants can check the status of their submission by logging into their account through StudentAid.gov.

Enrollment data on the Save plan arrives the same day as a resolution seeking to end the program. A group of 14 Republican lawmakers, led by Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, on Tuesday introduced a resolution to scrap a policy they see as a backdoor scheme for student loan forgiveness. The resolution invokes the Congressional Review Act, which lets lawmakers overturn recent regulatory actions of federal agencies with a simple majority vote in both chambers. A president can veto the measure.

The Republican lawmakers said the Save plan encourages people to take on debt and will turn the federal student loan financing system into a poorly targeted taxpayer-funded grant program. A Penn Wharton budget model estimates that the Save plan will cost as much as $558 billion over a 10-year period.

“Once again, Biden’s newest student loan scheme only shifts the burden from those who chose to take out loans to those who decided not to go to college, paid their way, or already responsibly paid off their loans,” Cassidy, the ranking Republican on the Senate Education Committee, said in a statement Tuesday. “Our resolution protects the 87 percent of Americans who don’t have student debt and will be forced to shoulder the burden of the President’s irresponsible and unfair policy.”

The measure marks the second time in recent months that Republicans have used a Congressional Review Act measure to try to stop a Biden student loan policy. Congress approved a Republican-led resolution to strike down Biden’s plan to forgive more than $400 billion in student loans, but the president vetoed the measure in June. The Supreme Court later struck down Biden’s program.

The Education Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday’s resolution.

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